Whoever kisses, oh he never misses to grow eloquent

Another bucket list item off the list for me was Ireland. After my trip to Poland, I think I not only had invigorated the travel bug but I was in search for the other half of me...the Irish half. Unfortunately I didn't have any great discovery or realize that my family has the rights to a grand castle in Ireland or anything of that nature, but it was nice to see where my dad's side of the family came from.

Some of my closest teaching friends from Sevilla and I made the trek to the much more freezing yet beautiful island. The first stop was Dublin of course. The first stop in Dublin, a pub of course! We decided to go to the Brazen Head which is the oldest pub in Dublin. After entering, we knew we had chosen the right place with live Irish music, friendly people who told us to just take a seat anywhere and a bartender that recommended some great beers. Stop...hold up...the beers...what a nice break from having one option here in Sevilla. But then again, Spain is not known for its beer. After a few plates of Irish soda bread and some beef and Guinness stew, we were off to begin our adventure.


There was something about Ireland right from the beginning that made me love it. Since Dublin was the first stop, we didn't see any lavish palaces or beautiful gardens. There were no white sand beaches nor a labyrinth of streets winding through the city. But it was perfect. The pub style nightlife, food (and the potatoes) and the people were unlike anything you would find anywhere else. We did our free walking tour of the city and our tour guide made the trip. She was just wonderful and we learned so much about Ireland. The Irish people have been through a lot but they sure do a wonderful job at keeping a smile on their faces and rubbing their happiness off onto other people.


The tour consisted of Trinity College and St. Stephen's Greens, Christ Church Cathedral and the Dublin Castle as well as places like Grafton Street and the Ha'penny Bridge, the prick with the stick and the tart with the cart.  (If you don't know what that is, you're not going to know until you go to Dublin...or you could Google it but that would take the fun out of it). It was a lot of walking but we were at lunch eating our fish n' chips by 3:30 and we were able to make it to the Guinness factory by 5. 

The Guinness factory could have taken a full afternoon but we saw how the beer was made (which was awesome!) and we actually got to see how the popularity of Guinness, both the beer and the brand, has developed over the years. By the end, we couldn't help but enjoy sitting around the Gravity Bar at the top of the factory and getting some beautiful views of the city while admiring the bartenders' skilled beer pouring techniques. We even got a shamrock printed into the foam (which is something our tour guide told us she hated, but hey, we were tourists so of course we loved it)! Let's just say it was a great experience! And the gift shop wasn't too bad either. 



The next morning, we were up bright and early and headed to Cork. We had some debate over Cork and Galway but since my grandmother's family was from Cork and I plan on returning to Galway with my dad, I decided to go. The city itself was alright but the real surprise came after the 20 minute bus ride out to Blarney Castle. The castle and gardens were incredible. We could have spent a whole day acting like kids, playing on the playgrounds, searching for fairies (yes fairies...don't ask) in the gardens and shopping in the world's largest Irish gift shop. And let's not forget, we had to kiss that Blarney Stone. After doing some acrobatic moves while being held by a nice old man about the ripe age of 65, we all managed to kiss the stone. As the saying goes, we're all supposed to be eloquent. And let's just say after the karaoke we sang later that night at Thomand bar in Cork, kissing the stone really did us some good. We might not have "rocked anyone like a hurricane" but the five of us American girls sure did leave our mark on the Emerald Isle.